If you use Microsoft 365 for your home PC and need to make a choice about how to support your business, you may not be aware of the extras you get with business packages. Here we list a few of them, and link you to our other articles which focus on specific aspects of Microsoft 365 for Business, to help you understand the choices available before you buy.
Compatibility of Microsoft 365 for Business
90% of all businesses in the world use Microsoft 365. This means your company will be able to collaborate with others much more easily if you follow the herd.
Access Files Anywhere
Your organisation can automatically save all its information in the cloud thanks to Office 365. This makes the latest version of all files accessible from any location with an internet connection and on any device.
Secure Microsoft 365 Cloud Storage
Remember when you had to switch off Microsoft cyber security and use a different provider like Norton or McAfee? Not any more.
Office 365 is now a completely safe environment with strong security controls in place, such as two-factor authentication, which makes sure unauthorised users can’t access your files even if they somehow manage to get on your device. Security risks are quickly recognised and eliminated thanks to threat detection and anti-malware, which is crucial for businesses dealing with sensitive data or information. By utilising Office 365, you can conduct business without worrying about security.
Improved Communication
Office 365 provides customers with options to make communication centralised and simple across Skype and Outlook.
Teams includes an instant messaging feature that allows comments and files to be uploaded at the same time, which is ideal for cross-departmental collaboration and document co-authoring. You can also ‘at’ people in Teams to notify them that a comment is directed directly at them.
Coming this year is Viva Exchange – the new 2023 replacement for Yammer. Currently, Yammer is another component of Office 365 that functions as a social network for your company. You can instantly message your whole workforce by posting to your company’s ‘news feed,’ and personnel receive an email reminder when there is a new post, ensuring that messages are not missed. Anyone can leave a comment on a post, and you can use Yammer to create several ‘channels’ for different purposes, so you don’t always have to post to the entire organisation.
All these capabilities allow you to stay in continual and quick touch with teams and people no matter where they are or when they are.
Predictable spend
Office 365 is charged per user, per month, as a subscription. The cost of your licences is determined by the functionality you select for your company, in other words the apps and additional functionality to support users. Additional cost savings are available, should you commit to a year – you can still pay monthly, but it will cost less.
Paying per user, per month, provides a predictable outgoing and allows you to budget your IT cost for the coming year. Updates, including the all-important security patches, are included in the price of your licences and sent out automatically, so there are no hidden fees, and you don’t have to pay someone to take care of this vital part of your cyber security.
Business Continuity
With your Microsoft 365 files kept in the cloud and frequently backed up, your company can continue to operate normally in the event of an office disaster. Your email, files, and data are safely kept in the cloud regardless of what happens to your physical devices. Exchange also provides recovery tools that allow individual emails or entire inboxes to be recovered if necessary.
Bear in mind that 365 isn’t a full backup solution as it doesn’t keep data longer than 90 days. This means if you want to roll back to older versions of files or to keep employees’ data after they leave your company, you will also need a separate backup solution.
Microsoft 365 for Business updates are made automatically
All the apps you depend on, like as Word, Excel, and Outlook, are included with Microsoft 365 and work online without you installing any software. Updates are carried out by Microsoft as soon as they’re needed, so you don’t have to worry about being on the most recent version; it will be done automatically. The cost of purchasing new software is also eliminated because updates are included in your Office 365 subscription.
Collaboration across the company and beyond
Through collaboration technologies, Office 365 allows you to share mailboxes, calendars, contacts, and edit documents in real time. Sharing calendars in Exchange allows you to know who is available when in your organisation, allowing you to organise meetings that work for everyone the first time. Because several users can access the same inbox using shared mailboxes, messages can be filtered to land in the shared mailbox and not be missed.
SharePoint is another essential tool for facilitating cooperation. Documents saved here can be accessed and worked on by any staff member and shared via email as a link. Multiple users can also modify documents saved in SharePoint in real time, making co-authoring simple. Thanks to little coloured flags that identify each user, you can see who is in the document at any time and even where they are working.
